SALFORD, England: Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan was dropped by the BBC on Wednesday because of his involvement in the racism controversy enveloping county club Yorkshire.
Vaughan has been accused of using racially insensitive comments toward a group of players of Asian ethnicity in 2009 while they were at Yorkshire.
Vaughan has denied the allegations and said his reputation has been “trashed unfairly,” calling it “the worst thing I have ever experienced.”
The BBC, which uses Vaughan as a pundit, said it wasn’t currently appropriate for him to have a role in coverage of the upcoming Ashes series against Australia and for wider elements of the sport “while he is involved in a significant story in cricket.”
“We require our contributors to talk about relevant topics,” the broadcaster said in a statement, “and his involvement in the Yorkshire story represents a conflict of interest.”
Azeem Rafiq, the whistleblower whose revelations about the racism and bullying he suffered at Yorkshire has sparked a crisis in the English game, was the first to make the allegation that Vaughan said in 2009 of the four players of Asian heritage: “There are too many of you lot; we need to do something about it.”
Rafiq was one of the four players in question. Two more — Adil Rashid and Pakistan international Rana Naved-ul-Hasan — have also said they overheard Vaughan’s alleged remarks.
Vaughan might still be heard in Britain during the Ashes through his scheduled work for Australian rights-holder Fox Sports, which will provide the audio for BT Sport’s coverage of the series.
“Very disappointed not to be commentating for TMS (Test Match Special) on the Ashes and will miss working with great colleagues & friends,” Vaughan wrote on his Instagram account, referring to the BBC radio program, “but looking forward to being behind the mic for @foxcricket in Australia.”
Vaughan said the issues facing cricket “are bigger than any individual case.”
“I want to be part of the solution, listening, educating myself and helping to make it a more welcoming sport for all,” he wrote.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has suspended Yorkshire from hosting international matches over its “wholly unacceptable” response to the racism faced by Rafiq, while some of the club’s sponsors are ending deals.
Last week, British sports minister Nigel Huddleston called for cricket to “get its house in order” and raised the possibility of independent regulation if it did not.
Vaughan dropped by BBC over involvement in Yorkshire crisis
https://arab.news/4rd7q
Vaughan dropped by BBC over involvement in Yorkshire crisis
Trending: BBC report suggests sexual abuse and torture in UAE-run Yemeni prisons
- The investigation was produced by British-Yemeni BBC journalist Nawal Al-Maghafi
LONDON: A recent BBC video report diving into what it says was UAE-run prison in Yemen has drawn widespread attention online and raised fresh questions about the role of the emirates in the war-torn country.
The report, published earlier this month and recently subtitled in Arabic and shared on social media, alleged that the prison — located inside a former UAE military base — was used to detain and torture detainees during interrogations, including using sexual abuse as a method.
The investigation was produced by British-Yemeni BBC journalist Nawal Al-Maghafi, who toured the site, looking into cells and what appear to be interrogation rooms.
Al-Maghafi said the Yemeni government invited the BBC team to document the facilities for the first time.
A former detainee, speaking anonymously, described severe abuse by UAE soldiers: “When we were interrogated, it was the worst. They even sexually abused us and say they will bring in the doctor. The ‘so-called’ doctor was an Emirati soldier. He beat us and ordered the soldiers to beat us too. I tried to kill myself multiple times to make it end.”
Yemeni information minister, Moammar al Eryani also appears in the report, clarifying that his government was unable to verify what occurred within sites that were under Emirati control.
“We weren’t able to access locations that were under UAE control until now,” he said, adding that “When we liberated it (Southern Yemen), we discovered these prisons, even though we were told by many victims that these prisons exist, but we didn't believe it was true.”
زارت بي بي سي مواقع داخل قواعد سابقة لدولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة في اليمن، حيث يقول محتجزون إنهم تعرضوا لسوء المعاملة. pic.twitter.com/BfS5GRxULp
— BBC News عربي (@BBCArabic) January 23, 2026
The BBC says it approached the UAE government for comment, however Abu Dhabi did not respond to its inquiries.
Allegations of secret detention sites in southern Yemen are not new. The BBC report echoes earlier reporting by the Associated Press (AP), which cited hundreds of men detained during counterterrorism operations that disappeared into a network of secret prisons where abuse was routine and torture severe.
In a 2017 investigation, the AP documented at least 18 alleged clandestine detention sites — inside military bases, ports, an airport, private villas and even a nightclub — either run by the UAE or Yemeni forces trained and backed by Abu Dhabi.
The report cited accounts from former detainees, relatives, civil rights lawyers and Yemeni military officials.
Following the investigation, Yemen’s then-interior minister called on the UAE to shut down the facilities or hand them over, and said that detainees were freed in the weeks following the allegations.
The renewed attention comes amid online speculation about strains between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over Yemen.
